Vise



ATTORNEYS Nov. 2, 1943. J. MEYER VISE Filed March 22,1941

4b 42, FY J4 |||||FV////// i-III Patented Nov. 2, 1943 Calif.

"half to `lrelerick 4M. Hutchinson, Glendale.

Application March 22, 1941, "Ser'ialA No. 38%,687

(Cl. '8l-433 4'Claims.

This iventionreiates generauy-tofhcldmg tools and appliancesan'dfmoreparticularly-to vises for holding articles firmly in position while workis being performed thereupon.

An object of the inventionis to provide a vise particularly adapted,although notnecessarily for` use in holding small articles,A such as theymovements of time pieces and instruments of vvarious kinds, the visebeing structurally characterized bymeans enabling fragile and delicatearticles to be yielding'lyV gripped withy any desired pressure from aminimum to 'a maximum for absolute'security inholdingl thelarticleagainst displacement without danger of deforming the article, ythegripping pressure being conveniently regulatable, and the article beingreleasable from between 'the jaws of the vise withoutchangingafpreselected relative adjustment of-the jaws, whereby to permitthe article to be'removedfandreplaced with the utmost ease, and'to bergripped with a'prede-` termine'd pressure in accordance with the 'jawadjustment, f all to the end' of greatly facilitating the handling ofsmall 'and delicatearticles' in' the performance of work thereon.

Another object' of the-invention is "to'provide a vise of the'aboveAdescribedc'lr1a1`"acter in which its movable jawcan'be'instantlyfdisconnected from a feed'member, for' rapid .manualshifting `away from arelativelynxed;jaw, o'r'advance'd toward the latterinto contact Withthe article, independently of a relatively slow feedingaction Vof the feedk member, whereby to greatly speed up the handling ofthe work.

A further object of' the invention'islto provide a vise, the jaws ofwhich are constructed tore-` movably'receive work holding adapters whoseactive faces are formed to accommodate `articlesuof diiTerent shapesand. proportions so as to. enable an article to be securely grippedirrespective of its contour, vthe jaws `and removable adapters thereof'having releasable retaining `means of simple and positive actingconstruction toinsure that the adapters will not be accidentallydisplaced, all while enablingthe adapters-to be easily removed at will.

With'theseand other objects in View, the invention resides vin I thecombinations, arrangementswand functional relationships of elements assetgforth in the 4following specification and particularly pointed outin the appended claims.

In the accompanying drawing,

Figure 1 is a. plan view, partly broken away, of oneiorm of viseembodying this invention;

"Figure '2 is a longitudinal sectional view taken on'the lineZ-#Z' ofFigure" 1;

"Figure 3fis a view similar to Figure '2 andlillustrating 4theposition's'of fthe partslin gripping an article withY a predetermined iyieldingpressure;

Figures '4 'and'5 are trans-verse sectionalr'views taken,'lrespectively,on the'flines Vf4--4 and 5e-5.0i Figure 2.

Referring 'specifically to 'the drawing, lthe* invention, initsillustrated embodiment, comprises a base I'Uin'theform'ofan-elongatedflat'plate ofimetal `of suitable gauge-toinsurerigidity, and

to 'oneend of which-is 'secured' av fixe`d-j-aw it "by screws 112, theheads `I3 Nof 'which form `"feet adapted to rest'uponza bench 'or vothersuitable support. Other screws' hlY are-securedby'*nuts i5 at theopposite, end of the base I0, for Vco=action of the 4heads I6ofthe'screws withthe headsI'S'in providinga footateachcornerv of the"base. The nuts f5 project above the base to a sufficient heightfor' useasngerlpieces in a manner to be later described Coeacting with'the xed'jaw ll is a movable jaw -Ilwhic'zh's slidably mounted onthe base formovement rectilinearly towards and away from'thexed jaw. 'To thisend'aguidingprojection I8 subtends from the,jXed'j-aw..and works in alongitudinal slot Iig inthe base,'.thejaw1being secured againstdisplacement ,from the, slot .by the relatively large head2() of ascrew2 Lthreaded into the jaw. .Itwill be notedthat. the headsV I3 and I6raise thelbase Illlsuliciently forA thev head 2li to `clearanyiiatsupport .on which the vbase is placed.

V.Co-acting with the .jawsll .and ll istaieed memberr in the form oftashaft Journaled--ina radial bearing 26 in the iixed jaw I I yandprovided With an yannular beveled .thrust collar 2'1 co-actingwith Vathrust bearing-.28.inthe xed jaw. The outere-nd of thefeed shaft 25,projects freely through .a bore 29 infthelfixedI jaw ande-is threaded toreceive an operating knob Swhich is locked to thefshaft bya jamvnuteSI.

The hub v32` of the-knob. 30gprojects into the bore toactasfajournaly-and interposed between thehub anda thrust washerv33on thefeed shaft 25. is a coil spring34 whichrnormallyurges-:the shaft axiallyin adirection to movethe thrust collar 2l into engagement with thebearing 28. t In the normal position of these parts shown inFig-urer 2,the spring'34'isnotion'ly fully unloaded butis also inactive because koflthe fact that. thee overall length of the spring when unloaded is'slightly less than the distance between`thehub32 and the thrustwasherv33, so that the thrust collarIZl will not be urged by the springinto contact with they bearing: 28 butwill' besufciently free'of thebearing to obviate any frictional resistance to rotation of the feedshaft.

From its collar 21 to its inner end, the shaft 25 is threaded preferablywith a screw thread of the buttress type. This portion of the shaftworks freely in a smooth bore 35 of the movable jaw |1. The movable jawis adapted to be operatively connected to the feed shaft 25 for movementtowards and away from the fixed jaw in response to rotation of theshaft, by means of a nut composed of two sections 4| and 42 prothumbagainst the outer face of the knob 35 as a finger is engaged with one ofthe nuts l5.

It will be clear that the jaw |1 can be manually advanced rapidlytowards the jaw by shifting the jaw |1 on the feed shaft 25 as thethreads 35 and the spring retained nut sections 4| and 42 will co-act inthe manner of a ratchet. To manually move the jaw |1 away from the jawit is only necessary that the nut sections be squeezed to release theirthread portions 41 and 48 from the feed shaft and then shift the jaw I1while holding the nut sections in released vided with slots 43 receivingscrews 44 threaded into the movable jaw to slidably mount the sectionsthereon. The section 4| is bifurcated to freely receive the section 42,and both sections are provided with other slots 45 and 46 receiving theshaft 25 and provided at diametrically opposed locations with portionsof threads 41 and 48 (Figure 1) normally urged into meshing engagementwith the buttress thread 35 of the shaft by meansv of a spring 49 whichurges the sections away fro-m each other, all as clearly shown in Figure4. The outer ends of the nut sections provide nger pieces so as toenable the sections to be pressed towards each other and their threadportions disengaged from the thread 35, whereby to permit the movablejaw to be freely shifted back and forth independently of rotation of theshaft 25. The buttress type thread 35 permits the movable jaw to beindependently shifted towards the fixed jaw without the necessity ofdisengaging the nut sections from the feed shaft, by a ratcheting actionof the nut sections on the shaft threads. v

The jaws and I1 are provided on their co fronting faces with arcuateshaped recesses 50 and 5|, respectively, receiving complementarilyshaped flanges 52 on work holding adapters 54 which have work engagingsurfaces of various contours and dimensions to most effectively coactwith a particular work piece to be gripped.

The flat bottom faces 56 and 51 of the recesses 5|] and 5| are providedwith transverse grooves 58 and 59, receiving retainer springs 65 and 6|,the ends of which are laterally bent in diverging relationship as shownin Figure 5, and seat in sockets 62 in the respective jaws so as toprevent displacement of the springs.

The springs 66 and 6| are normally urged to a position wherein theyproject above the plane of the bottom faces 54 and 55 so as to snap intogrooves 63 (Figure 5) in the respective adapters 54, whereby toreleasably retain the adapters against displacement from the jaws. Theflanges 52 of the adapters are provided with peripheral notches intowhich project pins 55 and 51 carried by the jaws so as to effectivelyprevent any rotational movement of the adapters relative to the jaws inthe operation of the vise which is as follows: i

With a work piece such as the movement of a watch or other instrumentplaced between the adapters 54 selected from a supply of different formsthereof, rotation of the shaft 25 by the knob 35 in a direction toadvance the jaw i1 towards the jaw is effected to cause the adapters toengage the Work piece. Continued rotation of the shaft 25 will load thespring34so that the work piece will be yieldingly gripped with suchmaximum pressure as will hold thework piece securely yet not deform orotherwise damage the work piece.

The work piece can be instantly released from,

the jaws without changing the adjustment of the position. From theforegoing description it will be manifest that fragile or delicate workpieces of different sizes and shapes can be handled with ease anddispatch so as to greatly facilitate the per- ZOA formance of operationsthereon.

What is claimed is: y,

1. In a vise, a base; a xed jaw secured to the base and having a bore, aportion of which denes a radial bearing; a movable jaw mounted on thebase for movement towards and away from the fixed jaw; a feed shaftjournaled in said bearing andA having an operatingknob; meansoperatively connecting the movable jaw to the feed shaft for actuationin response to rotation of the shaft; a thrust collar on the feed shaftadapted to bear against the xed jaw; and a coil spring surrounding thefeed shaft in said bore and co-acting with the fixed jaw and feed shaftto yieldingly urge the latter axially in a direction which will advancethe movable jaw towards the fixed jaw.

2. In a vise, a base; a fixed jaw secured to the base and havinga bore,a portion of which defines a radial bearing; a movable jaw mounted onthe base for movement towards and away from the fixed jaw; a feed shaftjournaled in said bearing; means operatively connecting the movable jawto the feed shaft; an operating knob fixed to the feed shaft and havinga hub projecting into said bore; a thrust collar on the feed p shaftadapted to bear against the fixed jaw; a

thrust ring surrounding the feed shaft in said bore; and acoil springsurrounding said shaft and engaging the thrust ring and the hub of saidknob to urge the feed shaft axially in a direction to advance themovable jaw towards the fixed jaw.

3. In a vise, a base; a fixed jaw securedto the base and having a bore;a portion of which denes a radial bearing; a movable jaw mounted on thebase for movement towards Vand away from the fixed jaw; a feed shaftjournaled in said bearing and having an operating knob; meansoperatively connecting the movable jaw to the feed shaft for actuationVin-response to rotation of the shaft; a thrust collar'on the feed shaftadapted to bear against the fixed jaw; and a coil' spring surroundingthe feed shaft in said bore and co-acting with the xed jaw and feedshaft to yieldingly urge the latter axially in a direction which willadvance the movable jaw towards the fixed jaw; the length of said springwhen unloaded being less than that required for the spring to maintainthe thrust collar in engagement with the fixed jaw, so that said collarand jaw will not set up any frictional resistance to rotation of thefeed shaft. Y

4. In a vise, a base having a xed jaw; a movable jaw mounted onthe basefor movement towards and away from the fixed jaw; a feed memberrotatably mounted inV a bearing in the fixed jaw; a thrust collar on themember; means operatively connecting the movable jaw to the feed memberfor actuation thereby; a spring co-acting with the feed member and fixedjaw for urging the collar into contact with the bearing; said springbeing operable when loaded, to cause a. work piece to be yieldinglygripped by the jaws; and means responsive to sucient rotational movementof the feed member in a direction to increasingly load the spring when awork piece is being gripped by the jaws, to cause all of the springcoils to contact together and form a rigid connection between the jaws,of which the spring in its fully loaded condition, forms a part, wherebyto enable the work piece to be rigidly gripped by the jaws.

JOHN MEYER.

